Zonzini Pal Cited by New Rochelle Bureau of Buildings for Illegal Dwelling and Turning Driveway into Commercial Parking Lot

NEW ROCHELLE, NY -- Anthony Esposito is the person mentioned by Mauro Zonzini in a recent interview with Talk of the Sound as having been arrested by police office Tim Adrian after Esposito, allegedly drunk, menaced officers with a large metal tool.

Zonzini told one story about Anthony Esposito, a friend, who Zonzini says was wrongly arrested two years ago.

"The cops come, tackle my friend which was the innocent one, beat the shit out of him, make a mess out of his face, rubbed his face in the ice, they made a mess out of this poor guy."

Zonzini said even though the charges were later dropped, the officers involved were credit with the felony arrests and received medals.

"That's how these cops are motivated," said Zonzini. "By medal day, and the more tickets and that's how the system is so they gotta embellish they got to make things so much worse than they are meanwhile you are ruining a guy that did nothing."

Medal Day refers to the annual New Rochelle Police Department Awards ceremony held annually at the Greentree Country Club.

New Rochelle Police denied a FOIL request to obtain a record of the arrest Zonzini described on the grounds the case had been sealed but sources tell Talk of the Sound the officer referenced by Zonzini is Police Officer Tim Adrian who has won a number of New Rochelle Police Foundation Awards including several Class "C" Citations.

"That cop got a big award, like 35 felony arrests, which probably 31 of them were fucking bullshit," said Zonzini.

"That's how the system works. The most felonies they get the more they get rewarded. They will write down anything," continued Zonzini. "Most cops will sell their mother for a felony arrest."

Sources tell Talk of the Sound that New Rochelle Police Commissioner Patrick Carroll intervened in Esposito's case, at the request of Zonzini. Adrian was called into Carroll's office and, at Carroll's instruction, Esposito apologized to Adrian. Carroll then directed that the charges be dropped.

Esposito owns a two-family house at 1 Ninth Street in New Rochelle, NY which has been the subject of numerous complaints to the Bureau of Buildings of the Department of Development of the City of New Rochelle. The matter is currently under review by the Bureau of Buildings which has opened a case against Esposito.

Esposito is alleged to have illegally converted the garage on the property into a dwelling, reportedly as an apartment for his son and daughter-in-law.

Esposito is also accused of illegally expanding the parking area at the house to convert it into a parking lot for trucks owned by a landscaping company -- a familiar practice in the West End of New Rochelle. The noise early each morning with workers talking, trucks starting up and beeping as they back out of the parking lot has drawn the ire of neighbors.

Sources familiar with the matter tell Talk of the Sound that building inspector John Caldararo was assigned to the case and that Caldararo was petitioned by Zonzini to leave his friend, Esposito, alone.

That effort was to no avail.

Last month, in a letter dated, June 24, 2013, Anthony Esposito was put on notice by the Bureau of Buildings, setting the stage for a legal battle if Esposito does not comply with the demands of the Bureau of Buildings.

In the letter, the Bureau of Buildings notes that the property at 1 Ninth Street was cited by the Bureau of Buildings on January 31, 2013 for the illegal conversion of the garage to a dwelling unit and the construction of a fire place and additional impervious surface in the rear year without prior approval of a building permit.

The letter goes on to say that the Bureau of Buildings has received numerous complaints about the use of the garage as a dwelling, as well as, the parking of trucks on the property for a landscaping business and the removal of the fire escapes.

Because the property is located in a residential district, the parking of commercial trucks is prohibited.

The letter cites a 2009 building permit for 1 Ninth Street which accepted that the 4-car garage and surrounding parking area on the property would meet the requirement for off-street parking of passenger vehicles for the use of residents of the existing dwelling. Since those parking spaces are not available due to the garage be converted to a dwelling and the parking of up to 9 landscaper trucks, 1 Ninth Street is not in compliance with parking regulations.

The Bureau of Buildings has ordered that illegal construction work must be legalized or removed, noting that the garage cannot be used as a dwelling and the parking area not used to store commercial vehicles.